Neil Pigot and Sarah Sutherland in The Realistic Joneses. Photo credit Teresa Noble Photography.
We’re all familiar with the phrase ‘keeping up with the Joneses’, that proverbial family up the street with a perfectly kept lawn and above average material possessions – a middling ideal. They represent a sentiment that may have fed into this play, but it might easily have not too. The Realistic Jones isn’t so much about an average family or a vicious critique of them. Rather, two highly eccentric pairs of Jones dealing with quite serious problems in a normal setting that’s been given an absurdist twist. The result is dry and witty suburban tale about relationships, mortality and the intricacies of vulnerability.
Love. The moment an individual character tries to define it in some long-winded attempt at novelty and earnestness is usually accompanied by a sigh, a roll of the eyes and an understanding that it’s going to be a long night. It’s a story that defines the love, or lack thereof, in a relationship. But The Realistic Jones has neither of these tropes. Will Eno offers his own odd mix of deadpan humour and matter-of-fact honesty that put into unfamiliar words that abstraction that cannot be definitively defined. Love.
Bob Jones is not a well man, who is not talking well to his physical degeneration. He wants to be well, he want to go back to work, he wants to be able to act normally. His wife, Jennifer, wants this too, but in the meantime has to accommodate and care for a man who is not fully aware of himself. We don’t know what Bob was like before he got sick, so it’s hard to say how much has changed but the strain is clearly starting to take its toll on Jennifer. Into the mix are thrown new neighbours Pony and John Jones, younger but with problems of their own. Pony’s childlike naivety and John’s choleric tendency to fill silence with words other than what he really wants to say have created a distance between them. At the same time their shared weirdness appears to create an understanding that they both value deeply.
As these two sets of neighbours get to know each other better, they discover an unexpected amount in common and despite being a story of minimal action, still offers a telling snapshot of both the seasoned and emergent relationships between people at different stages of their lives.
Red Stitch maintains its impeccable track-record of top-level performances with Neil Pigot aging-Regan-styled Bob and Ella Caldwell’s high-energy-ethereal Pony as standouts, to take nothing away from the outstanding performances of Sarah Sutherland and Justin Hosking as Jennifer and John respectively. Julian Meyrick’s intricate knowledge of Eno’s work shines through in this production that leaves you enlivened and wanting more.
Rating: 4 out 5 stars
The Realistic Joneses
By Will Eno
Featuring: Ella Caldwell, Sarah Sutherland, Justin Hosking and Neil Pigot
Director: Julian Meyrick
Set and Costumes: Greg Clarke
Lighting: Bronwyn Pringle
Composition and Sound: Ian Moorhead
Stage Manager: Natasha Marich
Assistant Stage Manager: Dylan Lines
Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre, St Kilda East
25 April – 28 May 2017
